Chapter 8: Li Shimin’s Craving

Li Shimin hauled his younger daughter back, his suspicious gaze sweeping back and forth between the two girls. “What is that smell on you? Cooking smoke and gamey milk?”

He twitched his nose.

The scent was faint, yet remarkably distinct.

Unlike the refined incense of the palace, this was a sweet aroma brimming with worldly warmth. It smelled somewhat like caramelized cane sugar, blended with a crisp, refreshing note of tea.

Li Shimin’s Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily.

He had argued with that old rascal Wei Zheng^[1] in Taiji Palace all afternoon, leaving his mouth dry and throat parched. The little mutton soup from lunch had long since digested, and his stomach was now playing the empty city stratagem^[2].

“What are you holding?” Li Shimin locked his gaze onto the bamboo cylinder in his eldest daughter’s arms.

Li Lizhi’s heart skipped a beat. She instinctively hid the bamboo cylinder behind her back. “N-Nothing… just some… dew.”

“Dew?”

Li Shimin scoffed in amusement.

Whose dew gives off such a mouthwatering aroma?

Not wasting any words, he held out his hand. “Hand it over.”

“Father, this is for Mother…” Li Lizhi said in a panic.

“For your mother?”

Li Shimin’s expression turned solemn, righteous and stern. “Then I must inspect it all the more. Something of unknown origin from outside the palace… what if it is unclean and harms the Empress’s noble health? I shall test it for poison on her behalf first.”

Without giving her a chance to object, he snatched the bamboo cylinder away.

The bamboo cylinder was warm to the touch and polished so smooth that it felt even sleeker than the jade pieces in the palace.

Li Shimin peeled back the lotus leaf sealing the top.

Whoosh!

The trapped fragrance burst forth in an instant.

The clean sweetness of monk fruit, the citrus notes of aged tangerine peel, the richness of goat milk, and the distinctive flavor of caramel blended together into an indescribable temptation.

Li Shimin had initially only intended to take a tiny sip.

He brought the bamboo cylinder to his lips.

The warm liquid slid into his mouth.

In that instant, Li Shimin’s tightly furrowed brows smoothed out completely. His eyes widened, a flash of shock in his pupils.

There was no gaminess from the goat milk! None at all!

Only silkiness, smoothness, and mellow richness!

The mildly sweet liquid flowed down his throat, soothing an esophagus that had been parched all afternoon. Everywhere it passed was like spring rain nourishing the earth, banishing all dryness and heat.

“This…”

Li Shimin wanted to speak, but his mouth refused to obey.

His body instinctively tilted the bamboo cylinder higher.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

In a single breath, without stopping.

By the time Li Shimin came to his senses, the bamboo cylinder was turned completely upside down. The very last drop of brown liquid fell onto the tip of his tongue, leaving a lingering, tantalizing sweetness.

Bliss!

His entire body felt thoroughly refreshed!

Li Shimin let out a long breath, feeling as though he could go back and battle Wei Zheng for another three hundred rounds.

“Father…”

A tearful, childish voice pulled him back to reality.

Xiao Sizi gazed tearfully at the empty bamboo cylinder, her lower lip pouting so far you could hang an oil pot from it. “Gone… dat was for Muvver… all gone…”

Li Shimin’s face flushed red.

Ahem.

Careless.

As the dignified Son of Heaven, he had just snatched his wife’s medicinal remedy and gulped it down. How would it look if word of this got out?

“Ahem!”

Li Shimin cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to salvage a shred of imperial dignity. “I… I only did this out of concern for your mother’s safety! Well, having personally tested it for poison, it is indeed harmless, and… quite palatable.”

Quite palatable?

Li Lizhi looked at the rim of the bamboo cylinder, which had been licked spotlessly clean, and the corner of her mouth twitched. You call that “quite palatable”? You drank it like a starving wolf!

“Speak.”

Li Shimin shook the empty bamboo cylinder in his hand, his gaze turning sharp, an unquestionable authority in his voice. “Where did this come from?”

Such a unique culinary technique, one that could completely eliminate the gaminess of goat milk while flawlessly blending it with the aroma of tea, was certainly not something the useless fools in the Bureau of Culinary Service could produce.

In fact, even the so-called master chefs outside the palace could never achieve this.

Li Lizhi and Xiao Sizi exchanged a glance.

Their eyes met in silent agreement: We must never betray handsome big bwother!

“We found it!”

The two spoke in unison.

Li Shimin raised an eyebrow. “Found it?”

“Y-Yeah!” Though Xiao Sizi felt guilty, for big bwother’s sake, she gave it her all. “Just… picked it up by the side of the woad! Maybe some immortal accidwentally dwopped it!”

Li Lizhi braced herself and chimed in, “Yes, Imperial Father. When I passed through the Imperial Garden, I saw how exquisite the bamboo cylinder was and picked it up. It smelled sweet, so I intended to bring it back for Mother to see. I had no idea what was inside.”

Watching his two daughters’ clumsy acting, Li Shimin saw through them as clearly as a mirror.

Yet he did not expose their lie.

He looked down, carefully rubbing the bamboo cylinder in his hand.

This was not an item from the palace.

There were no carved dragons or phoenixes on its surface, yet it had been polished exceptionally smooth, preserving the natural grain of the bamboo.

The rim of the cut was smooth and rounded without a single burr, clearly severed in a single clean slice by an exceptionally sharp blade and then meticulously polished.

Such knife skills…

In Li Shimin’s mind flashed the golden rice ball and the finely, evenly diced meat.

It is the same person.

It is definitely the same person!

Deep within the imperial palace, there truly lived an extraordinary master in hiding!

He sought neither official rank nor wealth, dwelling in the shadows, yet through two children, he sent this lung-soothing beverage to the Empress.

What kind of spirit was this?

This was a noble soul that cared for the realm and the imperial couple, entirely detached from fame and fortune!

An indescribable surge of excitement rose in Li Shimin’s heart.

“A good find. A very good find.”

Li Shimin smiled meaningfully, tucked the bamboo cylinder into his robes, and waved a broad hand. “Since you found it, this bamboo cylinder belongs to me. Go back and keep your mother company. As for where you found it, take me there for a stroll another day.”

With that, Li Shimin clasped his hands behind his back, humming an unfamiliar little tune, and walked toward Ganlu Palace with light, brisk steps.

With something in his stomach and the lingering fragrance in his mouth, he was in a splendid mood.

He had to have the Baiqi Bureau^[3] dig up this “master”!

Leaving such talent hidden as a recluse in the Imperial Kitchen was far too great a waste. With skill like this, he belonged in the Bureau of Culinary Service, cooking every day for me… no, for the Empress!

They watched their imperial father’s figure recede into the distance.

Li Lizhi and Xiao Sizi breathed a sigh of relief together.

“Sister.” Xiao Sizi tugged at Li Lizhi’s sleeve, her little face filled with worry. “Daddy took the bamboo cylinder away. What if Mommy doesn’t get to dwink the sweet water?”

Li Lizhi sighed, crouched down, and used a handkerchief to wipe the milk stains from the corner of her little sister’s mouth.

“It’s all right. We’ll go again tomorrow.”

Li Lizhi looked in the direction of the Imperial Kitchen, her eyes flickering. “There are plenty of bowls there. Sister will… just go wash them again.”

For the sake of that delicious food, what was washing dishes?

She would endure it!